Q: O/T Care for patient not out of PTA after Head injury.NB personal information has been removed from this question.

I noticed that the web site mentioned O/T for neurological problems. I will try and keep this short but need some professional help/advice.Severe head injury - in ICU for 5 days - now in neurology ward trying to recover and exit PTA - very slow progress. We are desperately trying to find out whether O/T would help at this stage or does this only really help when out of PTA? She is fairly stable now with medication (this was not the case initially) We have seen some real progress in the last 2 to 3 days. The O/T can only visit 10 mins a day. We are getting mixed signals as to whether O/T can only really work after PTA or in you opinion is it used to assist the exit from PTA? A: OTs can help relatives to understand the complexity of problems and teach how to provide early stimulation. I did this when I was an oOT on Neuro-surgery. This way the therapy time is extended. You will find a considerable amount of ideas on the Internet - look for early stimulation of head injured people.

Hopefully, improvement will occur and you will need to work closely with the Physio and OT. (OTs tend to focus on activities of daily living and can assist to obtain equipment. Community OTs can help with adaptations, depending on the level of mobility that is obtained.